Ludwig van Beethoven, Bagatellen für Klavier WoO 81 und WoO 212-213 sowie Skizzen zum Flohlied "Aus Goethes Faust" op. 75,3, Autograph

Once again: Beethoven's recycling

This bifolium with sketches is a good example of how Beethoven worked and his attitude towards his own musical ideas. He kept most of his sketches all his life - they were a valued possession. This leaf is clearly from his first years in Vienna, from 1793 or 1794. All of the studies that he completed during his lessons with Haydn can be found on this paper, Beethoven might even have been given it by Haydn. The notation in light brown ink is in Beethoven's handwriting of this time. This can be seen by the form of the clef and the note heads, which are still carefully drawn. Markings in darker ink and pencil on the pages are quite clearly in Beethoven's handwriting from a much later date. He added numbers to some of the sketched piano pieces: on the top of the first page in the right-hand margin he wrote "No. 6", at the bottom of the second page (above the fifteenth stave) "No. 11", and on the top left-hand side of the last page "No . 8", and in the middle (above the fifth stave) ""No . 7". Barry Cooper puts these numbers in a meaningful context (see Beethoven and the Creative Process, Oxford 1990). In 1822 Beethoven wanted to publish Bagatelles "Little pieces" for piano and looked in his older sketches for material which had hitherto not been printed. This bifolium also provided him with material (having lain around his home for almost 30 years) and he put the selected drafts in a provisional order (similar numberings can also be found on other sketch leaves). He also noted down small corrections in the free margins on the pages. Yet, while working on the material, Beethoven must have become aware that the sketches did not live up to his expectations. At least they no longer appear in the late Bagatelles op. 119 and 126. (J.R.)